Henry sat down hard, laying down his food with a thud. "Ready for practice tonight with the new girl?" His team offered enthusiastic nods, and one of them nodded over at another table. Nova was there, with a few boys that all looked suspiciously similar to her. Brothers, he supposed. He waved at her, a slight invitation if she wanted to come over and meet the team.
Babe's eyes flickered in the direction of the table, and she caught the wave. Rico did too, shooting her a pointed look, and she rolled her eyes, standing and moving to plop down next to Henry. All she had was her hockey duffel, no lunch in sight. "S'up. I've been summoned?"
"You have indeed. Meet your new team: Myself, Kevin, George, Evan, and Dylan." He gestured toward each of the boys, and they all gave awkward waves. "To clarify, you're on the team. All the way on the team." The boys nodded at each other.
Babe brightened at that, a grin working it's way onto her face. "Nice. Name's Nova, pleasure to meetcha." She greeted everyone, more confidently and smoothly than they had her. If someone was paying attention, they'd have noticed her gaze lingering on Kevin, like she was sizing him up or something.
Henry engaged them all in a smooth conversation, keeping an eye on Nova. His dish of noodles was less than appetizing, but he had some of them anyway. While the conversation continued, he turned and leafed through some pages of science homework. He glanced up at a lull in the conversation. "So, Nova, those guys are your brothers?" He jerked his head towards the table she'd come from.
Babe looked over at her brothers, who looked to be in some heated debate, minus Kai, who was still focused intently on his robot. "Yeah." She grinned, shooting Rico a wink when he looked over curiously. "My twin, the other twins, and our resident robotics genius."
His eyebrows went up. "Robotics genius? That is impressive…" He looked over at their table again, studying the robot. Henry turned back to Nova. "How long you been playing hockey?" The other boys paused and looked over to see the answer. They were all eager to learn more about their new teammate's skills.
"If anyone related to me asks, I haven't played in three years." Nova said cryptically, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "The truth? I was skating before I could walk, and hockey came months after."
Henry gave an appreciative nod. "So we shouldn't advertise you as our new member?" He was somewhat anxious to get her back on the ice, to see what she could do with that much experience and as much enthusiasm for the sport itself.
"If you don't mind." Babe shrugged, looking apologetic. Nobody had asked her why yet, but she was expecting it. It always came up at some point. Playing this year, on this team, was going to be hard. Not the playing itself, but the secret keeping.
"Is there a reason?" Henry prompted. If she didn't want to say, it was fine. He just wanted to clear up anything right there, and get all the hard questions out of the way right then. The team could handle a secret member, but they needed a reason, or an assurance that they couldn't have a reason. There would be no hockey shenanigans as long as he was a part of the team.
"I was in an accident." Babe said with a resigned sigh, fiddling with her locket. "A skating one." If he wanted details, he could ask, but that was up to him.
Henry leaned back and studied her. She hadn't seemed at all stiff on the ice last night, so whatever had happened had seemed to have cleared up for her. She hadn't seem injured at all, very comfortable on the ice. He nodded at her, accepting her explanation.
"Oh, right." Babe said, changing the subject as she turned to look at Kevin. She pointed at him, singling him out. "Are you single, by any chance?" It kind of sounded like she was asking for herself, but her follow up question was whether or not he was into guys.
Kevin paused and looked at her closely. "I am… theoretically single." Dylan laughed. "He got dumped. He's still waiting for Abby to come around, but we all know she won't." Henry grabbed Kevin before he could lunge over at the laughing boys, but then turned to her. "Why, are you interested in Kevin?" The question was laughed at, as the boys teased Kevin mercilessly.
"I happen to know someone who's interested in you." Babe said, stifling her laughter at the collective responses. They seemed close, a tight nit group of friends. A pang of sadness suddenly shot through her chest, and she hoped it didn;t show on her face at all.
Kevin's eyebrows looked up, and he glanced around the room. "Quiet, ya'll, Nova says somebody's interested." He stood, gave a sassy wink, and walked off with his books. Henry shook his head at the three remaining boys, while finishing his own noodles. "Anyway, Nova, it's good to have you on the team."
Babe didn't respond for a moment, instead looking over at the table her brothers were at. Rico caught her gaze, and she quirked an eyebrow subtly. Somehow, he knew exactly what that meant and flushed a deep red. "I'm hella excited to play with you guys. When's your next match?"
Henry sighed. "Well, we aren't scheduled for any matches yet. The team isn't good enough to get into the matches this season, although we might be with you. Hawk'll figure it out. We are meeting for practice tonight, though. 6:30, sharp." He waited for her reaction, either confirmation of the practice or disappointment in their lack of matches.
"We'll get you those matches." Babe promised, a sly grin on her face. There was a spark in her eyes that said she had a plan, and she fiddled with something in the pocket of her jacket. "I'll be there, at practice. I have to go job searching before hand."
"Ah, maybe we shouldn't get matches…" He trailed off, glancing around the team. They were all good players, for sure, but they weren't quite at the same level as most of the high schools in the area.
Their school had used to have one of the best hockey teams in the area. There was a huge trophy case in one of the offices, a testament to their coaches and victories. Now, the team had just fallen down. They didn't play matches, and when they did, they lost. Every time, it was the same, one more failure for the team.
Babe's grin turned to a frown, and her tongue poked out a bit as she thought. She could pin point what their issues were, today at practice, probably. And she could even see it now. Their morale was incredibly low, and that wasn't good at all. So how could she-uh huh….
Henry caught her considering look and laughed. "We have all kinds of problems. The main one being, a chunk of our team doesn't deserve to play. There are three other members, but they shouldn't even be on the team. They won't show at practice tonight, and we'll be lucky if they make it to one all week. I've tried everything with them, they just aren't committed. You're our seventh person on a team of ten people. Seven of us care, three of us don't." She was good at hockey, and she at least seemed to care about the team overall. She'd probably be good for them, both on the ice and off.
"Why are they playing then?" Babe asked, tapping her fingers rhythmically on the table. "The ones that don't care, why join the team at all? Everyone's got a reason for playing, so what's their's?" She was cycling through ideas in her head. She had always been one to fix things, and that's what she was trying to do now.
"One, their parents played, so they feel forced into it. Two, the school really wants a full hockey team, so they offered it as extra credit. Those boys needed extra credit, and this was the easiest way. Coach's done his best to get them in shape, but they just aren't willing to put the effort in. Hopefully, with you as another member, we'll have enough to kick them off the team." He appreciated her efforts, and was relieved the actual team members seemed to be accepting her easily. The five of them hadn't ever considered a girl joining the team, and he'd had his doubts about whether or not she would fit in.